Blackmail

Chapter 12

After that graduation night, Harry was unceremoniously thrust out into the real world. He certainly did not want to go back to live with the Dursley’s, so instead he found himself a small, reasonably priced flat in a small wizarding community just outside of London.

Along with the flat, he got a job working at a shop in Diagon Alley, Quality Quidditch Supplies. It wasn’t a bad job… he was right in the middle of all the Quidditch happenings in the area. But like everybody else, he was looking for a more fulfilling position, so he figured he would hold on to this job until he figured out what exactly he wanted to do with the rest of his life.

Sure, there would be the occasional patron coming into the shop only to gaze at his forehead, but he soon learned how to avoid such people. So all in all, he was satisfied with the way his life was going.

Except for one solitary thing: he was lonely. Ron and Hermione had gotten together shortly after the graduation ceremonies, so they were of course busy with their own house, their own careers, and their own lives. They weren’t calling as often as Harry would’ve liked (Hermione had finally gotten around to teaching Ron how to properly use a telephone), and only visited him at his new flat once. And Sirius, still on the run, was often out of touch for weeks at a time.

However, Harry still went about his business as usual, refusing to let this minor factor get him down.

One day, coincidentally exactly two months after their commencement, he headed over to the ice cream parlor on his break. While licking at a chocolate ice cream cone, he ran quite literally into an old acquaintance on his way out of the shop.

"Bloody hell," the other man grumbled, picking himself up from the floor. "Why can’t you watch where you’re- Harry," he finished in surprise.

"Draco?"

Both men blinked and stared at each other for a long moment while the crowd surged around them. It had been only a couple months, yet Draco somehow looked much older to Harry’s eyes. He had lost a bit of weight and his usual well groomed self was more than a little disheveled. His hair was a mess, not to mention slightly dirty, and his robes were definitely not up to his usual standards.

But nonetheless, Harry decided, he still looked handsome. But now, in a more rugged way.

Harry swallowed, and finally found his voice. "Draco," he said again. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like I’m doing?" Draco rolled his grey eyes. "I had a craving for ice cream. Git."

But he was smiling.

Harry privately thought that it was good to see his smile again.

"But what about things with…" Harry dropped his voice, "Voldemort? You’re still…?"

"Yes. I’m still hiding from him. Ever since graduation, in fact. He hasn’t found me yet, and actually, I don’t think he really gives a damn about me anymore." Here, Draco paused and shrugged. "So I decided to come out into the light and chance an ice cream sundae."

"They don’t have very good sundaes here," said Harry, who had memorized the layout of Diagon Alley about a month after working there. "For those you might want to go to-"

"I liked it," Draco interrupted. "For a person who hadn’t had a taste of ice cream in months, it was heavenly."

"Oh, right," said Harry, feeling stupid.

"You’ve grown out your hair," Draco said abruptly, reaching up and fingering a long strand.

Harry felt an odd shiver run through him at the light touch. "Yeah, uh, it’s covering most of my forehead now. I’m hoping that without my scar in plain sight, people won’t recognize me."

Draco dropped his hand. "Is it working?"

"Not really," Harry smiled ruefully. "But I decided that I like it long."

Draco nodded. "It looks good long," he said, grey eyes studying him intensely.

Harry flushed slightly and took a lick of his ice cream cone to cover his embarrassment. He then glanced at his watch. "I have to start back to work, or I’ll be late."

"Oh," Draco said, looking somewhat disappointed. "I’ll just-"

"Walk with me," Harry interrupted.

"What?"

"Walk with me," Harry repeated. "The shop is way on the other end of Diagon Alley. I could use the company."

Draco thought for a split second, and nodded once. "Alright."

So the two exited the shop and emerged into the crowded alley.

"So, do you live here?" Draco started, as they made their way through the crowd.

"No," Harry answered. "I found a flat just outside of London. It’s in a wizarding village. It’s nice."

"Then you just work here?"

"Yes, at Quality Quidditch Supplies." Harry shrugged. "Just until I decide what I really want to do with my life."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "So you’ve decided not to work for that so-called Order, after all?"
Harry hesitated, taking a swipe of ice cream on the cone. "I’ve given a lot of thought to what you said, that night after graduation. You know, about Dumbledore."

Draco nodded.

"I’ve decided that there’s some truth in the whole matter. I just don’t know how much," he admitted. "But I do know that deliberately or not, Dumbledore was manipulating me. And I don’t want that. I want to be my own person."

"So, you just completely withdrew from all them?"

"Well, no. I still keep in touch. And I do help out occasionally, when they really need me. But not as much as everybody would like." Here, he smiled somewhat bitterly. "They probably all think that the Boy Who Lived let them down."

Draco shrugged. "That’s the price you pay for freedom. Individual freedom… we all need that, Harry. Believe me, I know. Despite what everybody else thinks, whatever their needs are… your own comes first."

Harry frowned. "The way you said that… it sounds selfish."

"Does it? Well, I suppose that’s up to the individual."

"I guess… sorry," Harry said hastily to a person he just jostled.

"My fault, Mr. Potter," the stranger replied, smiling and tipping his hat before walking away.

Harry sighed. "It was my fault, you know," he said to Draco as soon as the stranger was out of earshot. "But they all deny it, and take the blame."

"Such is the life of a celebrity," Draco said lightly. "You can’t escape it."

"No, I suppose not," he heaved a sigh.

This is when they reached the shop. "Well, this is it," Harry said, staring at the front of the shop.

"Yep," Draco said, coming to a halt next to him.

Neither man moved.

Harry finished off the last of his ice cream cone and turned towards Draco. "I guess I’d better get back to work."

"Wait," Draco said. "You’ve got some ice cream right… here…" he finished softly, reaching up with a finger to wipe away a dab of ice cream from the corner of Harry’s mouth. Harry sucked in his breath.

Draco was about to reach back down to wipe the dessert off on his robes, when Harry’s hand caught his wrist.

He brought the finger back up to his mouth. Due to their close proximity, he felt Draco hold his breath. His eyes silently asked permission, and when Draco made no move to pull away, Harry slowly licked the smudge of ice cream off the tip of Draco’s finger.

"Harry…" Draco breathed, his voice barely audible over the large crowd of people. Normally, in these sort of circumstances, Harry would worry about other people watching. But right now he found himself not caring in the slightest who saw.

"Do you still feel it?" he asked Draco softly. "The connection?"

Draco silently nodded.

"I do too."

Draco moved his hand out of Harry’s grasp, and ran his fingers down the side of the other man’s smooth face.

Harry swallowed. "What do you say I take the rest of the day off work?"

"And?"

"And we go to my flat?"

"And…?"

"Use your imagination."

Draco gave Harry a dose of his trademark smirk. "Then to that I say, ‘what took you so long to ask?’,"

Harry took Draco’s hand in his, and they walked away from the shop. Harry didn’t care what his boss thought about him not showing up after his break, and didn’t even think of the prospect of getting fired.

All Harry wanted to think about was being with Draco.

"So why do you think it took us seven years to finally reach this point?" Draco asked as they plunged once more into the crowd.

"Because you were a great ugly git who was too daft to see what was staring him right in the face?"

"Ugly?" Draco asked, in a hurt tone.

"Well, maybe not so ugly," Harry said reluctantly.

"I personally think that devilishly handsome is more fitting."

"Of course you do, Draco," Harry reassured him. "Just keep telling yourself that, and one day maybe it’ll come true."

"You wish you were as handsome as me."

"Do not."

They continued like this, their voices getting lost in the crowded alleyway. Neither knew what lie ahead, what wars and tragedies would come to the wizarding world. But by silent agreement, Harry and Draco decided that they would face it together.

The End.